Trunk-top



'(No Model.)

F. KUKKUOK' & H. ARND.

TRUNK TOP.

No. 275,500. Patented Apr. 10. 1883.

WITNESSES INVENTORS Friederic]: Minna/A By their .zldorneyslenry 1 fli' wl.

n. PEYERS. PhckbLiihognpher. Washingtulu n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT Denice.

FR-IEDERICK KUKKUCK AND HENRY ARND, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TRUNK-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,509, dated April 10, 1883. Application filed January 20, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRIEDERIOK KUK- KUCK and HENRYARND, citizens of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Trunk-Tops, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the class of trunktops described in Letters Patent No. 262,956, granted to us August 22, 1882, and in Letters Patent No. 268,694, granted December 5, 1882, to Friederick Kukkucl(-that is, to what are known as barrel-stave tops, or those of a concavo-convex shape, having their arcs of greatest height in the central transverse and longitudinal lines, and arcs symmetrically decreasing in size on both sides of each central line. In those patents, as well as in other applications-for patents on similar subject-matter filed by us and now pending, the trunk-tops are described as made of several-preferably three-layers or sheets of veneer, each layer being gored at either the sides or ends, so as to permit the bending and moving of the sheets when subjected to pressure in a suitable press to conform them to the required shape.

Our present invention is based upon the discovery-that such trunk-tops may be formed without goring the layers of veneer, and that a trunk-top presenting an unbroken seamless exterior may be practically produced.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates the shape of the pieces which form the outside layer of our improved trunk-top Fig. 2, the piece forming the inside layer. Fig. 3, is a longitudinal sectional view through a completed top. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same, and Fig. 5 is a view of the matrix or division-piece which we may employ in making trunk-tops in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a complete trunk-top.

The grain of the veneers forming the outside of the trunk-top runs transversely to that forming the inside; and the several layers (the middle one having been coated with glue) are to be pressed together in a suitable press be tween matrices or division-pieces coated with paraffine'or some other material to prevent adhesion thereto, as fully set forth in the patents above referred to. The central layer of veneer is by prefer nce gored at tbe'ends, as

shown in the drawings, and the grain is pref- 'erably in the direction of the length of the trunk-top. The grain of the outside layers of veneer represented in Fig. 1 runs preferably in the direction of the width of the trunk-top.

We have discovered that, by making such trunk-tops as above indicated of such pieces as are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the ungored outer layers can be made to conform to the concavo-convex shape required without rupturing them or-in any way impairing their durability and strength.

In manufacturing trunk-tops according to the present plan we may employ matrices or division-pieces of veneer like that illustrated in Fig. 5-that is, rectangular pieces corresponding in shape to the layers of veneer,and provided with gores or V-shaped slits extending from each end at or near each corner inwardly toward the center of the sheet. When such matrices are used the sheets of veneer to form the trunk-tops and the matrices are piled flat, and the whole pile put into the press and shaped at one time. We prefer, however, to use solid stiff matrices, which may be made of veneer, and which have previously been shaped to conform to the bed and follower of the pressthat is, to the contour of the trunk-top to be producedand press each set of veneers into its matrix as the sheets are piled, and then put the entire lot in the press. If desired, very short or shallow notches may of course be out along or in each side of the outer layers of veneer without marring their appearance or materially afi'ecting them in any way, and without destroying the seamlessness of the exterior of the top, because the very short lines formed by such notches will invariably be covered by the side strip of the trunk-top. The outside ungored layers of veneer could be made of two rectangular sections or pieces placed squarely edge to edge, so as to constitute an ungored layer; but while such a struct- I ure is naturallyan-outgrowth of the discovery that-ungored layers may-be employed in the special. character of trunk-top described, a top so made would not be seamless, and we prefer, therefore, to make the tops with solid outside sheets.

We are aware that the patent of Mayo, No. 3,090, reissued August 18, 1868, shows a seamless trunk-top, arched transversely and straight longitudinally,madeofseveralsheetsofveneer. \Ve are also aware that Patent No. 94,009, granted August 24, 1869, to Jacob Lagowitz, shows a trunk-top shaped somewhat like the trunk-top herein described, and made up of sections of board the adjacent edges of which ahutted against each other. \Ve make no claim, therefore, to the subject-matter disclosed in these patents.

\Ve claim as our invention- 1. A concavo-convcx trunk-top having its arcs of greatest height in the central transverse and longitudinal lines, and arcs symmetrically decreasing in size on both sides of each central line, composed of several layers of veneer, as set forth, in which one or both of the outside layers is composed of an ungored' sheetof veneer.

2. A concavo-convex trunk-top having its arcs of greatest height in the central trans- 2o verse and longitudinal lines, and arcs symmetrically decreasing in size on both sides of each central line, composed of several layers of veneer, as set forth, in which one or both of the outside layers is composed of a single 2 seamless sheet of veneer.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names this 15th day of January, A. D. 1883.

FRIEDERICK KUKKUCK. HENRY ARND.

Witnesses:

WM. P. ARND, R. E. SCHRICK. 

